On Apricots

Rather ironically, yesterday I misunderstood the meaning of the word “Mondegreen”, believing it to be a description of the countryside in spring (a multicultural amalgamation of the French for "world" and the English "green").  I now stand corrected; or at least I am trusting that Wikipedia is not lying on this matter…it did once lead me astray with regards to TV gardener Alan Titchmarch when some pranksters edited his entry to state he had published a new version of the Kama Sutra!

“A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of near-homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning. It most commonly is applied to a line in a poem or a lyric in a song.”

This made me recall the Carly Simon song “You’re So Vain”, subject of many misheard lyrics, such as

“Some underwear spy or a knife and a clothespin”
(Original: "Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend") 

This song is another source of confusion for me, centering around the correct pronunciation of the word “apricot” (APP-ricot at opposed to APE-ricot), perhaps it all depends on whether it is partnered with a sailing item and a strategically placed hat…

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was writing a Strictly Meets Hauschka blog, so where am I heading with this?  Autumnabricot  - yes, a new word to describe the golden hues of the autumnal landscape (the English “autumn” and the French "apricot". I’m not sure if this will get an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, but I pretty confident that I could edit it onto to Wikepedia!).  This is inspired by a stunning gown worn by Victoria Pendleton on Strictly last week:

It brought to mind a picture I had taken in the autumnal leaves at Kew Gardens:

Also a picture I took this morning. I have a strange fascination with tree bark, it is just so incredibly beautiful:

As I have previously stated it is reminiscent of my skin before I discovered Dr.Hauschka products. If this resonates with you, Quince Day Cream may be a good choice. It is made with a base of Apricot Kernel oil; smoothing and moisturising the skin to impart a soft, dewy glow.  I find this works better for my skin than Rose Day Cream, which alas is too rich (but excellent for tattoo care!).  RoseDay Cream Light however, is another of my skin saviours; that too has a base of Apricot Kernel Oil as does Melissa Day Cream…I feel another misheard lyric coming on…

Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your base oil was apricot..